1 Corinthians - Devoted or Divided? Pt.2

1 Corinthians - Devoted or Divided? Pt.2

Acts shows the church on the move—1 Corinthians shows the church being refined. Corinth was Spirit-filled, gifted, growing… and dangerously divided. Paul confronts four major issues that still sound uncomfortably modern: pastor-worship and factions (chapters 1–4), sexual compromise dressed up as “grace” (5–7), fights over secondary issues instead of love (8–10), and worship services that became performance and disorder (11–14). Then he brings the whole church back to the foundation: the Gospel and the resurrection (15). Because when a church forgets the risen Christ, pride takes over, holiness fades, and unity fractures. The mission begins in the mirror—so the question is simple: are we devoted… or divided? 

Reader's Version

1 Corinthians: Devoted or Divided? Pt. 2 

Sermon by Gene Simco 

Reader’s Version 

A pastor, a Boy Scout, and a chess master were traveling on a very small airplane. About halfway through the flight, the turbulence turned violent. After a few long jolts, the pilot turned around and said, “I think we’re going down. But we’ve got a bigger problem—there are four people on this plane and only three parachutes.” 

Instead of offering to stay with the aircraft, the pilot made his case first. “I’m married with children.” He grabbed a parachute and jumped. 

Next, the chess master stood up and made his case. “I’m the smartest person in the world, and the world needs me.” He then jumped out of the plane. 

That left the pastor and the Boy Scout. 

The pastor turned to the Boy Scout and said, “Son, I’ve lived a long, full life, and yours is just getting started. I know the Lord Jesus, and I’m going home to be with Him. You take the last parachute.” 

The Boy Scout looked at him and said, “Relax, Pastor. The “smartest man in the world” just jumped out of the plane with my backpack.” 

Indeed. And last week we saw that the root of division in the church is pride. 

Paul puts it plainly: 

“Because of the privilege and authority God has given me, I give each of you this warning: Don’t think you are better than you really are.” (Romans 12:3) 
“Live in harmony with each other. Don’t be too proud to enjoy the company of ordinary people, and don’t think you know it all!” (Romans 12:16) 

In other words: pride doesn’t just make you annoying—it makes you divisive. And division always feels “spiritual” to the people doing it. It usually sounds like discernment. But most of the time it’s just arrogance in a church outfit. 

Shape 

From there, we’ve been following Acts alongside Paul’s letters. He writes to churches he’s visited, and sometimes to churches he hasn’t. In Romans, we saw he hadn’t been to Rome yet. Today we’re looking at a letter to a place he had been—Corinth. 

We saw Corinth in Acts 18, when Paul ran into Priscilla and Aquila after they left Rome because the Jews had been expelled. That’s part of the background. 

Acts ended with the church on the move—the gospel spreading, the Spirit working. Persecution couldn’t stop it, and neither could politics or pride. Paul ends up in Rome, and we saw how devotion got strained there too—Jew and Gentile division, religious and cultural tension. That helps explain some of the circumcision and law language we’ll keep seeing. 

Then we reach Corinth—where a mission that once turned the world upside down begins to turn inward. 

Paul isn’t writing to pagans here. He’s writing to believers: a Spirit-filled, gifted, growing church that’s falling apart from the inside out. They were saved, but they weren’t really sanctified. They were powerful, but they weren’t pure. They were devoted once, but now they’re divided. 

Acts shows us a church going. Corinthians shows us a church growing up. Because if the church isn’t healthy, the mission won’t multiply. The Spirit who sent the church out in Acts is now calling the church back to holiness in Corinth. 

And the same question that faced them faces us: 

Are we devoted—or are we divided? 

Shape 

Now, 1 Corinthians is kind of interesting. A lot of people don’t realize there’s evidence of another earlier letter—what you might call “zero Corinthians.” We get hints in chapter 5 where Paul references a letter I wrote to you, and throughout the book he’s answering questions they’ve asked. That means there was correspondence going on that we don’t have. 

Another thing we have to keep in mind—something we touched briefly last week—is rhetoric. Speakers then, like speakers now, use rhetorical devices like hyperbole. So when you read 1 Corinthians, you need to recognize literary devices so you don’t build absolute doctrines from a line taken out of context. Everything has to be checked with the surrounding argument and with the rest of Scripture. 

And remember: the New Testament didn’t have chapter numbers for about 1,200 years, so sometimes our modern chapter breaks don’t match the natural flow of the main topics. 

But as a big-picture overview, 1 Corinthians deals with one major problem—pride—and one solution—Jesus. 

And it breaks down into four major categories (with other sins underneath them): 

Chapters 1–4: Pastor / worship division 

Chapters 5–7: Sexual sin 

Chapters 8–10: Secondary doctrine issues 

Chapters 11–14: Worship service problems 

Chapter 15: The solution—resurrection hope 

Let’s look at the first problem: pastor-worship and division. 

They started arguing about which pastor they liked best. Paul isn’t subtle about it. He appeals to them, in the name of Jesus, to stop splitting into camps and to be united in the same mind and purpose (1 Corinthians 1:10). And this should sound familiar, because it echoes the same concern we saw in Romans—watch out for people who stir division and teach contrary to what the church has received (Romans 16:17). 

*Full Scripture Quotes Below* 

So yes, division shows up in both places—but the kind of division looks different. In Romans, it was more social and religious—Jew and Gentile tension, what we might call denominational or cultural preferences today. In Corinth, that stuff exists too, but the first issue out of the gate is pastor worship. They’re dividing over which leader they like best. 

What’s happening is pride—pride in one leader over another. You can hear it in their slogans: “I follow Paul.” “I follow Apollos.” Others claim Peter. And then you’ve got the ultra-spiritual group that says, “I follow only Christ,” as if everyone else doesn’t (see 1 Corinthians 1:12). 

Paul answers bluntly: is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized in Paul’s name? (1 Corinthians 1:13). Paul isn’t flattered—he’s grieved. He even says he’s glad he didn’t baptize more of them, because the point was never to build a fan base or attach their identity to a personality (1 Corinthians 1:14–17). 

And that’s exactly what they’ve done: they traded devotion for celebrity. They replaced reverence with rivalry. 

So Paul starts mocking worldly wisdom and contrasts it with the Spirit. He calls them immature—babies—acting like people of the world. That connects back to the warning in Romans: you’re not supposed to be shaped by the world’s thinking (Romans 12:2). The church doesn’t belong to its leaders. It belongs to the Lord. 

Paul explains it with a simple picture: one person plants, another waters, but only God makes it grow. The glory doesn’t go to the planter or the waterer; it goes to God (1 Corinthians 3:6–7). The moment you start elevating one leader at the expense of another, you’re exposing the real problem—pride. And Paul doesn’t just “teach” it; he warns them. He even tells them, in so many words, that if he has to come back, he can come gentle—or he can come with a stick (1 Corinthians 4:21). 

Then he raises the stakes: this isn’t a preference debate. They—together—are God’s temple, and God’s Spirit dwells among them (1 Corinthians 3:16). So when we elevate personalities over Christ, we don’t just offend someone’s sensibilities—we fracture Christ’s body. 

The church was never meant to be a fan club. It’s a family. 

So the remedy is a return to humility and a return to mission: Jesus—not us—is the message. 

This brings us to the second problem—chapters 5 through 7: sex. 

The Corinthians were tolerant of sin—and proud of it. In fact, a man was sleeping with his father’s wife, and the church was basically bragging about how “gracious” they were. 

Paul doesn’t applaud that. He rebukes it. He tells them they shouldn’t be proud—they should be grieving—and that the man needs to be removed from fellowship (1 Corinthians 5:2). So there it is again: pride. 

Now, this situation can confuse people at first. How would a young man be sleeping with “his father’s wife”? The most likely scenario is his stepmother. 

And culturally, that fits the world they lived in. Medical care was limited; childbirth was dangerous; women died young. Older men often married much younger women. So it wouldn’t be unusual for a man to have a teen son from a previous marriage and then marry a much younger woman—meaning you could end up with two young people, full of hormones, living under the same roof. That doesn’t make it okay. It just helps people understand what’s going on without imagining only one modern scenario. 

Paul’s remedy is shocking to modern ears: he tells them to hand the man over to Satan—not as cruelty, but as a severe mercy, so he can be saved in the end (see 1 Corinthians 5:5). It’s the “prodigal strategy.” Sometimes people need the pig pen before they wake up and come home. 

He even uses the illustration of yeast—how a little bit works through the whole batch, puffing things up. It’s a picture of how tolerated sin spreads, and yes—how pride puffs up too (1 Corinthians 5:6–7). 

Then Paul makes an important clarification about judgment. He reminds them that when he said not to associate with sexually immoral people, he didn’t mean people outside the church—otherwise you’d have to leave the world entirely. His point is: you don’t police unbelievers. God will judge those outside. The church is responsible for holiness inside the church (1 Corinthians 5:9–13). 

And this is where people get tripped up, especially after Romans, because Romans warns about hypocritical judgment. But Paul’s point here is different: this is a church discipline issue, and it’s not random members hunting for sin like spiritual bounty hunters. Paul speaks as a leader and says he’s already made his judgment on the matter. 

Then chapter 6 feels like a digression—lawsuits. But it’s not random. It’s still the same theme: division. If you’re one family, why are you dragging each other into court? Why not just take the loss? It’s a terrible witness, and it shows how far they’ve drifted from devotion into rivalry (1 Corinthians 6:1–8). 

Then he comes back to sex again, and he dismantles their logic: they thought tolerance was love, but Paul says holiness is love, because holiness protects. 

He tells them to run from sexual sin, and he frames it in a way that hits both the body and the spirit: sexual sin uniquely involves the body, and believers don’t belong to themselves anymore—they were bought with a price (1 Corinthians 6:18–20). The point is bigger than “don’t do bad things.” It’s identity: you are not your own, and your body matters to God. 

And there are two layers here—because Paul’s already dealt with the corporate temple idea, and now he presses the individual reality too: they are God’s temple together, and the believer is God’s temple individually. In context, he’s addressing prostitution and the broader sexual chaos in Corinth, and he’s also pulling forward the fallout from chapter 5. Corporately and individually: the Spirit doesn’t share space with unrepentant rebellion. 

Paul starts by answering their questions directly. He affirms that abstinence can be good, but because sexual immorality is so common, marriage is also a wise and holy safeguard—each man with his wife, each woman with her husband (1 Corinthians 7:1–2). In other words, Paul isn’t romanticizing lust; he’s acknowledging reality and giving a practical, godly framework for it. 

Then Paul says something that surprises a lot of people: it’s better to marry than to burn with desire (1 Corinthians 7:9). That’s not a downgrade of marriage—it's a sober admission that for many people, marriage is a legitimate and merciful provision from God. 

He also presses something countercultural: mutuality and equality in marriage. He talks about shared marital responsibility, not one-sided entitlement (see 1 Corinthians 7:3–4). And then he gives an important clarification—he’s not issuing this as a universal command. He’s giving it as a concession. He says he wishes everyone were single like him, but recognizes that God gives different gifts to different people (1 Corinthians 7:6–7). 

That’s where the timeline matters. 

We’re not in the “be fruitful and multiply” moment anymore. We’re not Adam and Eve trying to populate the earth, and we’re not Noah rebuilding after the flood. Those are unique commands in early biblical history. The New Testament Christian mindset is different: live ready, live faithful, live on mission—because the Lord is coming. 

Paul makes that point with clarity when he talks about devotion and distraction. He says he wants believers to be free from the concerns of this life, and he explains that marriage brings real-world responsibilities that naturally divide attention—while singleness can allow a person to focus more directly on serving the Lord (1 Corinthians 7:32–35). And he’s careful to say he’s doing this for their benefit, not to trap them or restrict them—he wants them to serve the Lord with as few distractions as possible. 

And did you catch it? That theme again: devoted vs. divided—only now it’s not just church conflict. It’s how life itself can pull your focus apart. 

So marriage is good. But devotion to the Lord is the goal. And then the topic of divorce comes up. 

Earlier in the chapter, Paul recognizes that divorce creates real victims—people who didn’t choose it and didn’t want it. Then the question surfaces: what if an unbelieving spouse leaves? 

This is where Paul addresses a scenario that wasn’t front-and-center in Jesus’ earthly teaching context. Jesus was speaking primarily to a Jewish audience. Paul is dealing with mixed marriages in a Gentile mission world—believer and unbeliever in the same home, sometimes newly converted Christians married to pagans. That creates complications they wouldn’t have been thinking about earlier. 

Paul’s point is that if the unbeliever insists on leaving, the believer is not “bound” in that situation (1 Corinthians 7:15). And yes—this is where the language matters. The idea of not being “bound” is why many understand this as a genuine concession that can allow remarriage in situations of abandonment. It’s a good example of why we read Scripture forward, letting later apostolic teaching address real-life situations that weren’t directly in view earlier. 

So Paul isn’t loosening holiness—he’s applying holiness in a broken world, with real people, real abandonment, and real fallout from sin. 

This brings us to problem three: love over liberty—secondary issues, and division over secondary doctrinal questions. 

This is where it really helps to go back to Acts 15. The church had to deal with a massive shift: Gentiles were coming into the fold. So the question was, do they need circumcision, and do they need to obey the entire Law of Moses? The answer was no. The council gave a focused set of boundaries—especially around sexual immorality and idolatry-related concerns, including meat connected to idol worship (Acts 15:19–20, 28–29). That background matters, because now we’re going to hit one of those exact pressure points: meat sacrificed to idols. 

In Corinth, some believers refused to eat meat that had been offered to idols. Others thought it didn’t matter. And instead of showing grace, they used “knowledge” as a weapon. 

Paul answers their question, and he starts with a principle: knowledge puffs up, love builds up. That’s the issue. It’s not that knowledge is evil—it’s that knowledge without love becomes a crowbar, not a compass (1 Corinthians 8:1). 

Then he explains the real pastoral problem: not everyone has the same background or conscience. Some believers had lived their whole lives thinking idols were real powers. So when they eat idol-connected meat, their conscience interprets it as participating in worship—and that violation matters (1 Corinthians 8:7). Paul’s point is that food itself doesn’t earn God’s approval. You don’t gain spiritual points by eating, and you don’t lose salvation points by abstaining (1 Corinthians 8:8). But love has to govern liberty, because your freedom can become someone else’s spiritual collapse. 

And this is where the warning becomes sharp: if your “superior knowledge” encourages a weaker believer to violate their conscience, you’re not being mature—you’re being destructive (see 1 Corinthians 8:9–13). The whole conversation began with, “Regarding your question…” which again shows us this is Paul responding to correspondence we don’t have—another reminder that 1 Corinthians is pastoral triage, not a systematic theology textbook. 

Now, Romans helps here too. We talked about the “weaker believer” there. The categories can get messy depending on the issue, but the principle stays consistent: Christian liberty isn’t about flexing rights—it’s about laying them down when love requires it. Liberty that crushes someone else isn’t liberty. It’s selfishness dressed up as maturity. 

Paul restates the principle later with an even broader framing: you may be “allowed” to do something, but that doesn’t mean it’s beneficial. Don’t aim at your own good—aim at the good of others. Do everything for God’s glory, and avoid unnecessary offense to Jews, Gentiles, or the church (1 Corinthians 10:23–33). His whole posture is, “I don’t do what’s best for me; I do what’s best for others, so they may be saved.” 

Then in the middle of this discussion, Paul brings up the issue of going without pay. That’s not a random detour—it’s an example. He’s illustrating what it looks like to give up real rights for the sake of the gospel, just like he’s been discussing with food. 

This is where people misuse the text. They’ll say, “Paul always worked and never got paid.” That’s not true, and it ignores what he actually says. Paul argues that those who minister have a legitimate right to be supported, and he says the Lord ordered that those who preach the good news should be supported by those who benefit (1 Corinthians 9:13–14). He calls it a right. 

But then he explains why he laid that right down: not because support is wrong, but because he didn’t want anything to hinder the gospel, and because of the specific ministry dynamics he was navigating in Corinth—dynamics that become even clearer when we get into 2 Corinthians and he has to deal with false teachers, “super apostles,” and the way culture interprets patronage and money. His sacrifice was strategic, not universal law. 

And then there’s a line pastors don’t quote much—probably because it hits too close to home. Paul talks about disciplining his body like an athlete, training it, and fearing that after preaching to others he himself could be disqualified (1 Corinthians 9:27). And yes, the immediate context is still about self-control and willingly surrendering liberties—especially around food and desires—so that he doesn’t become a stumbling block. 

So here’s the bottom line: 

Love outranks liberty. Freedom that forgets the weaker brother isn’t freedom—it’s selfishness. If you use your freedom, use it to serve, not to separate. 

The next problem is worship—chaos. Paul now turns to what’s happening in their worship services. 

The first issue is head coverings (1 Corinthians 11:4–5). In the cultural context, there are two things at play. 

First, in pagan temple worship, men would often cover their heads—wearing something like a hood or cloak as they worshiped. Second, in Jewish settings, women would often cover their heads, but Gentile women generally did not. Gentile women often had elaborate hairstyles, and they were getting up and praying or prophesying in front of everyone. 

So the issue is distraction. While not identical, it’s comparable to someone showing up in a worship service wearing something highly inappropriate—something that draws attention to the body instead of to the Lord. In that world, hair could function like a sex symbol, especially to the Jewish believers in the room. That’s why, historically, women wearing hats in church and men removing hats in church became a practice. But today, people often keep the practice while losing the historical context. This is why culture and history matter when reading these passages. 

And there’s an important note to remember moving forward: women are speaking in church. In 1 Corinthians 11:5, women are praying and prophesying. 

Next, their communion table had turned into a party for the privileged. 

Many of these churches met in homes. There were wealthy benefactors who hosted these services. Picture a triclinium—like the banquet table setting people imagine in old movies—where people would lounge around tables. Meanwhile, people in the center might take turns praying, prophesying, leading, and teaching. But their spiritual gifts had started turning into a show for the proud. 

Then Paul addresses the Lord’s Supper—what many call communion, or the Eucharist. There are different theological views on it that won’t be tackled here. But Paul confronts what’s going wrong. When they gather, they aren’t really honoring the Lord’s Supper. Some people are rushing ahead to eat their own meal without sharing, and the result is that some go hungry while others get drunk (1 Corinthians 11:20–21). 

So there’s drinking going on. They’re carrying over old party behavior into the church gathering. The wealthy aren’t waiting for the poor to arrive, and they’re starting the eating and drinking before the whole body is even present. 

Paul gives the correct instructions about the Lord’s Supper, and then he says that if they would examine themselves, they wouldn’t be judged in this way. And when the Lord disciplines them, it’s so they won’t be condemned with the world (1 Corinthians 11:31–32). There is judgment, but there is not condemnation. 

Next, in the worship service, there is pride around titles and gifts. 

There are different lists of spiritual gifts—Romans 12 is one example, Ephesians 4 is another—and the lists aren’t meant to be exhaustive. The gifts are given to help one another. Paul uses the body illustration to show that every part matters and that no part is more important than another. All are necessary. 

He concludes with rhetorical questions: are all apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers? do all work miracles? do all have gifts of healing? do all speak in tongues? do all interpret tongues? Of course not. They should desire the most helpful gifts (1 Corinthians 12:29–31). And that matters for missions too. “Apostles” carries the idea of sent ones—missionaries. Not all are missionaries. And not all speak in tongues. Some denominations create division by insisting everyone must speak in tongues, but Paul plainly says otherwise. 

Then Paul points to what matters most: love. Gifts and knowledge will pass, but love remains. Faith, hope, and love last, and love is the greatest (1 Corinthians 13:13). 

In chapter 14, Paul zeros in on disorderly worship—especially prophecy and tongues. Prophecy strengthens the church. Tongues are not helpful if no one understands. Paul says he would rather speak five understandable words that help others than ten thousand words in a language no one understands (1 Corinthians 14:19). And if unbelievers come in and hear everyone speaking in tongues, they’ll think everyone is out of their mind (1 Corinthians 14:23). 

Then Paul says God is not a God of disorder but of peace (1 Corinthians 14:33). That’s the context: disorder in the worship service. 

This is also where translation and original language matters. The passage about women being silent must be handled carefully. Earlier, in 1 Corinthians 11:5, women are praying and prophesying, so Paul is not suddenly issuing a blanket prohibition against women speaking in church. The language in Greek matters: the word for “man/husband” (ἀνήρ) can mean either depending on context, and the word for “woman/wife” (γυνή) can mean either depending on context. The translator must decide based on the situation. 

The passage also references “husbands” and questions being asked at home, which suggests the issue is likely wives speaking out, chattering, or disrupting with questions during the service, and Paul is restoring order—especially in a context where younger wives could be married to older husbands. The issue is not “women can’t speak.” The issue is disorder and disruption in the gathered worship. 

So the lesson in this section is that true worship unites, not divides. The Spirit’s goal is edification, not exhibition. Worship is participation, not performance. 

Let’s look at a few fulfillments occurring within 1 Corinthians. 

First, Christ our Passover Lamb. 

In the first Passover, Moses instructs Israel to take a lamb for each household and slaughter it, and when the Lord sees the blood marking the home, He passes over in mercy (Exodus 12:21–23). Paul takes that Passover image and applies it directly to Jesus, calling Christ our Passover Lamb who has been sacrificed for us (1 Corinthians 5:7). 

So Paul takes the first Passover—salvation through substitution—and centers it on Christ. The blood that marked Israel’s doorposts now marks the people of God. The Lamb’s sacrifice still separates the living from the dead. And in Corinth, Paul uses that same Passover logic to call the church to remove the leaven of sin, just as Israel removed leaven before the Passover. Christ’s sacrifice demands sanctification. 

Second, the rock and the manna. 

God rained down food from heaven in the wilderness (Exodus 16:4), and God brought water from the rock (Exodus 17:6). Paul reaches back to that wilderness provision and says God’s people ate spiritual food and drank spiritual water, because they drank from the spiritual rock that traveled with them—and that rock is Christ (1 Corinthians 10:3–4). 

Paul is reminding Corinth that God’s people have always depended on divine provision. The manna and the water weren’t merely sustenance; they were signs. They pointed forward. Christ Himself is the bread of life, the living water, and the rock that was struck for our salvation. Israel’s physical deliverance pointed to a deeper, spiritual deliverance. 

Third, the body and the Spirit. 

Ezekiel saw a valley of dry bones come to life by the Spirit of God (Ezekiel 37:14). Paul sees a church that must become alive together by that same Spirit. He says that whether Jew or Gentile, slave or free, all have been baptized into one body by one Spirit, and all share the same Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:13). 

Ezekiel saw resurrection imagery—bones made living. Paul sees a church that must live as one body. Unity is resurrection power. The same Spirit that revived Israel now animates the body of Christ. Division is death. Unity is proof of life. 

And finally, death swallowed in victory. 

Isaiah foresaw a day when God would swallow up death forever and wipe away tears (Isaiah 25:8). Hosea mocked the grave’s power with a prophetic taunt (Hosea 13:14). Paul brings that hope to its climax and declares the fulfillment: when our dying bodies are transformed into bodies that will never die, Scripture will be fulfilled—death swallowed up in victory, death losing its sting (1 Corinthians 15:54–55). 

Paul ends where all redemption ends: resurrection. Isaiah foresaw the day God would crush death. Hosea mocked the grave’s power. Paul declares both fulfilled in Christ. The divisions of Corinth dissolve at the empty tomb. Every fractured church and every broken believer finds wholeness in the One who conquered death itself. 

1 Corinthians brings it down to a personal question: what is dividing Christ in life? 

Is it pastor worship—globally? 

That’s not a problem that exists at C3 Church in the same way, but Corinth started developing factions—Paul, Apollos, Peter. And today, factions still exist. Calvin. Luther. Denominations. Churches named after leaders. In light of 1 Corinthians, how would Paul feel about that? Denominations—when they become identity and rivalry—are division. And division is sin. 

And personally, this shows up as personality preachers and celebrity pastors. 

There are pastors who actively promote themselves and gladly accept the worship and the division. Some people implicitly believe them over God’s Word. They won’t check Scripture for themselves, so they’ll believe almost anything a celebrity says—as if the pastor is God. 

So beware of those who don’t use enough Scripture. As pastors, the job is to point people to the Word—not to ourselves, and certainly not to opinions. People must not be worshiped. Jesus must be worshiped. And anyone who is accepting worship should be rejected. The goal is to stop following personalities and start following Jesus. 

Then there’s sexual sin—still common today. Maybe not prostitution in the same form, but sin is still sin, and bad company still corrupts good morals. Paul will say in 2 Corinthians, “Don’t be yoked to unbelievers.” The question is whether someone has gotten involved with someone who doesn’t share the same morals and pulls toward sin. 

And today the temptation isn’t always a person—it can be right in the phone. Porn wasn’t what it is now back then, but it’s everywhere now, and it’s not a victimless crime. First, it supports an evil industry. Second, the believer is a temple of the Holy Spirit. Paul’s logic is strong: should a part of Christ’s body be joined to a prostitute? That isn’t just “personal weakness.” It’s sin against God Himself. And for the married, Jesus says that even lustful looking is adultery in the heart. 

So the key is removal and replacement. Remove it from the phone. Replace it with something better. Replace it with the Bible app. Replace it with something useful. And if it’s a situation or a relationship, remove yourself from it. Bad company corrupts good morals. Stop excusing sin and start pursuing holiness. 

Then there are secondary doctrines. 

Have secondary issues been elevated higher than they should be? It happens constantly. Churches divide over just about any doctrine inside certain circles. There are countless sub-denominations. And if division is sin, then the church has to stop fighting over secondary issues, start uniting in love, and keep the gospel at the center of life. 

What about pride in gifts or titles? 

There is pride in titles today. That’s part of why introducing oneself as a pastor—rather than “Pastor Gene”—matters. The goal is function over title. Titles fuel pride, both in people who chase them and in people who are tempted to worship them. In a lot of churches, it’s worth remembering that “deacon” means servant. Titles can tempt people into status and tempt others into worship. 

And what about worship itself? 

Do people worship the worship? There are celebrity worship leaders. People can focus on them instead of Jesus. People boast about one worship leader over another, who’s better, who’s more anointed, who’s more powerful. But in light of Romans 12, is that really worship? 

So the church has to stop performing worship and start participating in unity. Because if worship turns into a show—if it becomes American Idol—it becomes an idol. 

And that brings everything back to the solution. 

Keep the gospel at the center. Keep hope only in the resurrection. Stop drifting from resurrection hope and start living in resurrection power. 

Corinth had four big problems, but Paul gives one big solution: the resurrection. 

If Jesus is raised, then unity matters, holiness matters, love matters, and worship must build up—not show off. The church doesn’t need a new personality, a new argument, or a new trend. It needs the gospel back at the center. 

So here’s the mirror question: what is dividing Christ in me—pride, compromise, secondary fights, spiritual performance? 

And here’s the hope: death isn’t the end. Sin doesn’t get the last word. Division doesn’t have to win, because Christ is risen. And that means the church can be renewed, united, and sent. Devoted people don’t stay divided. 

So come back to the cross, and live like the tomb is empty. 

SCRIPTURES 

Foundational Scriptures on Pride and Unity 

Romans 12:3 

"Because of the privilege and authority God has given me, I give each of you this warning: Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us."  

Romans 12:16 

"Live in harmony with each other. Don’t be too proud to enjoy the company of ordinary people, and don’t think you know it all."  

1 Corinthians 1:10 

"I appeal to you, dear brothers and sisters, by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, to live in harmony with each other. Let there be no divisions in the church. Rather, be of one mind, united in purpose and thought."  

Shape 

Section One: Addressing Pastor Worship 

1 Corinthians 1:13 

"Has Christ been divided into factions? Was I, Paul, crucified for you? Were any of you baptized in the name of Paul?"  

1 Corinthians 3:6–7 

"I planted the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow. It’s not important who does the planting, or who does the wa7tering. What’s important is that God makes the seed grow."  

Shape 

Section Two: Addressing Sexual Sin and Marriage 

1 Corinthians 5:2 

"You are so proud of yourselves, but you should be mourning in sorrow and shame. You should remove this man from your fellowship."  

1 Corinthians 6:18–20 

"Run from sexual sin! No other sin so clearly affects the body as this one does. For sexual immorality is a sin against your own body. Don’t you realize that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body."  

1 Corinthians 7:1–2 

"Now regarding the questions you asked in your letter. Yes, it is good to abstain from sexual relations. But because there is so much sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife, and each woman should have her own husband."  

1 Corinthians 7:32–35 

"I want you to be free from the concerns of this life. An unmarried man can spend his time doing the Lord’s work and thinking how to please him. But a married man has to think about his earthly responsibilities and how to please his wife. His interests are divided. In the same way, a woman who is no longer married or has never been married can be devoted to the Lord and holy in body and spirit. But a married woman has to think about earthly responsibilities and how to please her husband. I am saying this for your benefit, not to place restric12tions on you. I want you to do whatever will help you serve the Lord best with as few distractions as possible."  

Shape 

Section Three: Love vs. Liberty (Secondary Doctrine) 

1 Corinthians 8:1–3 

"Now regarding your question about food that has been offered to idols. Yes, we know that 'we all have knowledge' about this issue. But while knowledge makes us feel important, it is love that strengthens the church. Anyone who c17laims to know all the answers doesn’t really know very much. But the person who loves God is the one whom God recognizes."  

1 Corinthians 9:13–14 

"Don’t you realize that those who work in the temple get their meals from the offerings brought to the temple, and those who serve at the altar get a share of the sacrificial offerings? In the same way, the Lord ordered that those who preach the Good News should be supported by those who benefit from it."  

1 Corinthians 10:23–24 & 31 

"You say, 'I am allowed to do anything'—but not everything is good for you. You say, 'I am allowed to do anything'—but not everything is beneficial. Don’t be concerned for your own good but for the good of others... So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God."  

Shape 

Section Four: Order in Worship and Spiritual Gifts 

1 Corinthians 11:4–5 

"A man dishonors his head if he covers his head while praying or prophesying. But a woman dishonors her head if she prays or prophesies without a covering on her head; for this is the same as shaving her head."  

1 Corinthians 11:20–21 

"When you meet together, you are not really interested in the Lord’s Supper. For some of you hurry to eat your own meal without sharing with others. As a result, some go hungry while others get drunk."  

1 Corinthians 12:29–31 

"Are we all apostles? Are we all prophets? Are we all teachers? Do we all have the power to do miracles? Do we all have the gift of healing? Do we all have the ability to speak in unknown languages? Do we all have the ability to interpret unknown languages? Of course not! So you should earnestly desire the most helpful gifts. But now let me show you a way of life that is best of all."  

1 Corinthians 13:8 & 13 

"Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever... Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love."  

1 Corinthians 14:33–35 

"For God is not a God of disorder but of peace, as in all the meetings of God’s holy people. Women should be silent during the church meetings46. It is not proper for them to speak. They should be submissive, just as the law says. If they have any questions, they should ask their husbands at home, for it is improper for women to speak in church meetings."  

Shape 

Section Five: The Resurrection Solution 

1 Corinthians 15:3–8 

"I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me. Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said. He was seen by Peter and then by the Twelve. After that, he was seen by more than 500 of his followers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. Then he was seen by James and later by all the apostles. Last of all, as though I had been born at the wrong time, I also saw him."  

1 Corinthians 15:54–55 

"Then, when our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never die, this Scripture will be fulfilled: 'Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?'"  

1 Corinthians 16:13–14 

"Be on guard. Stand firm in the faith. Be courageous. Be strong. And do everything with love." 

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©️ Copyright 2025 Gene Simco 
Most Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright ©1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. Scriptures in brackets reflect the original Biblical languages.

1 Corinthians - Devoted or Divided? Pt.2

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